Rewriting History
by stressandstorm
Summary: Caught out alone by a member of the Volturi, Renesmee Cullen wakes up in 2005, where her parents are dancing around each other and no one knows who she is. Reaching out to Carlisle, the hybrid tries to keep her identity a secret and ensure that everything goes the way it should, even with her presence in the past.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Twilight or the characters therein, and am making no money off this flight of fictional fancy.

* * *

Renesmee only caught sight of the edge of the man's robes, before he blasted her with something, and she felt herself falling. She should have never gone out hunting alone, even if an elk was her version of a pint of Ben & Jerry's. She especially shouldn't have been out alone, angry and emotional. She was usually so much smarter than that. "Sorry." She murmured as she fell into unconsciousness, even though her parents were too far away to hear it.

* * *

She woke with a grumble to a bright light being shone in her eyes, and a very familiar voice. "Hey, are you all right? Miss? Can you hear me?"

"Grandpa?" Nessie said, blinking a few times, a hand rising to her head, which was aching and, judging by the wetness and the smell. Whether it was hers or the elk she had been eating before she had been startled by the Volturi, she didn't know.

Charlie Swan laughed at that. "I don't think so, I'm not that old yet." he moved the light out of her eyes. "I'm Charlie Swan, Chief of Police here in Forks. Do you know what happened to you?"

Nessie blinked again, confused. That was definitely her grandfather, but something was off. He smelled different, and he looked different, he looked...younger. "Someone was chasing me...I don't remember anything after that. She shook her aching head. "What's the date?"

"February tenth, two-thousand-five." Charlie replied, steadying the poor girl as she stood up. "We should call your parents and take you to the hospital to get you checked out."

Nessie stopped in shock when her grandfather told her the date. 2005? How could it be 2005? She wasn't even _born_ in 2005."Uh...um...no parents." She said finally, losing her usually impeccable balance a little. Her parents weren't together, her mother was still _human._ "Carlisle." She said after a minute. "I need to find Carlisle." Her other grandfather would be patient enough to hear her story, and have enough experience with listening to the future from Aunt Alice that _maybe_, just _maybe_, he would believe her.

"Dr. Cullen?" Charlie said in surprise. "He's probably at the hospital, so that makes it easier. What's your name?"

"Nessie." She answered quickly, and then rethought her stance. "Vanessa Wolfe." She murmured, using her oldest pseudonym as Charlie shuttled her into his police cruiser.

* * *

Renesmee did not find the hospital pleasant. While her one grandfather had gone off to find her other grandfather, she had been escorted to an exam room by a nurse. It would have been fine if the nurse had just left her there to wait, but the nurse wanted to take her blood pressure, pulse, temperature and clean the wound on her head.

"I just need to see Carlisle." Nessie said, avoiding the woman as much as possible. "I'll be fine." She knew her heartbeat was strange, her blood pressure stranger, and her body temperature far above normal.

"Chief Swan is getting him, I only want to get some information for him, Miss Wolfe." The nurse said kindly as the girl all but sprung away from her.

"Carlisle can do it." Nessie said stubbornly, trying to keep more space between them."I want Carlisle." She sounded a bit more like her chronological age than she would have liked, but her paranoia was justified.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The nurse said softly. "No one will hurt you here."

Nessie was saved from another round of jumping around the room demanding her grandfather, by him opening the door and entering the room. Without really thinking it through, Nessie quickly sprung from behind him, using him as a shield between herself and the nurse.

"What's going on, Sarah?" Carlisle asked, his voice calm and was aware that the girl behind him wasn't normal. She didn't smell human, and he could hear her strange heartbeat. It put him on guard, but at the same time, his compassion made him realize just how frightened she was.

"She won't let me touch her, sir." Sarah replied, looking a little put out. "She just kept asking for you."

"I'm sure I can handle it, Sarah, thank you." Carlisle replied, taking the blood pressure cuff from the rather put-out nurse as she left.

Threat gone, Nessie moved away from Carlisle, jumping up on the exam bed. "Hi."

"Hello." Carlisle said, a little amused, and approached her, taking her blood pressure. "Who are you?"

"It's complicated." Nessie said with a sigh.

Carlisle raised an eyebrow at the blood-pressure cuff, and took a note on his pad. He wasn't charting this. "_What_ are you?"

Nessie made a face, looking around. "A hybrid. Half..." She gestured to him. "And half..." She gestured toward the door.

Carlisle was shocked enough to drop his stethoscope back around his neck. "I've heard legends, but...I never thought it was possible."

"Yeah well, here I am." Nessie said, biting her lip. "But...I'm not supposed to be here. I was having some elk, and I caught sight of a Volturi guard...I started running...and I woke up in 2005." She paused for a moment. "I'm not even born yet!"

"You think you've traveled back in time?" Carlisle asked, doubt in his voice.

"Pretty much." Nessie admitted. "I wonder if maybe that was the guard's power...Alice can see the future, maybe he can...move someone in it? Manipulate it somehow?" She sighed. "Or maybe I watch too many cheesy sci-fi movies with Emmett."

"You know my family." Carlisle said, listening but not sure whether he believed it.

Renesmee was never one for talking, and her words weren't getting her anywhere. She reached out and touched his cheek, trying to prove it.

* * *

_Nessie standing against a growth chart, as Carlisle took careful notes. "You're still growing quickly, sweetheart, but not as fast as you used too. Looks like Nahuel was right. I think Edward's home, why not go see what he brought you?"_

_Nessie curled up on a couch beside Emmett, eating popcorn and watching a cheesy late-night movie, half-asleep._

_Nessie dancing with Alice in the forest. _

_Nessie playing the piano with Edward. _

_Nessie falling asleep as Esme stroked her hair while waiting for the hunters to come back home._

_Nessie, terrified, running and jumping to avoid the member of the Volturi, the way he gestured at her, the guilt for acting out, and then being woken up by Charlie Swan._

* * *

Carlisle stared at the girl as she dropped her hand from his cheek. He went with the least astounding revelation."You can project your thoughts."

"Only through touch." Nessie admitted. "I like to talk that way. Less chance to be misunderstood." She looked at him, a little lost. "Help me, Carlisle, please."

Carlisle felt something in her expression, the lost little girl in her eyes, tug at his heartstrings. "All right, I'll do what I can, though I don't know how I can help, if nothing else, we can give you somewhere to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who read, followed and favorited this story, especially to those who reviewed. I'm glad this story has an audience.**

* * *

Carlisle had assured Charlie that he would do what he could to take care of 'Vanessa' and soon enough Renesmee was sitting in her grandfather's car as he took the slow route to the home where had been – would be? – born.

"What do you eat?" Carlisle asked, glancing over at her as he took a turn. They both knew that he was trying to learn everything he could about her and her kind. Nessie could hardly blame him. It wasn't everyday something you didn't think possible showed up at your workplace claiming to be from the future and cowers behind the vampire when approached by a mortal nurse.

"Blood, mostly." Nessie admitted easily. "I _can_ survive on human food, but…ugh." She shuddered at the idea. "Mostly I just have a few French fries or choke down a milkshake or soda if mortals start noticing." She grinned. "All my classmates are just convinced I'm anorexic."

Carlisle's voice shifted, becoming firm. "We have a treaty with the local tribe – we do not bite or feed from humans and do not hunt within their lands." He glanced at her, to make sure she understood, before looking back at the road.

"No worries." Nessie replied with a laugh. "I've only ever bitten one person, and he never minds." Even just the veiled reference to Jacob made the ache of missing him flare up, and it was only through strength of will that she kept herself from sighing. She wasn't bringing up the old argument about donated blood to a Carlisle without reason to tolerate her idea of a vegetarian compromise.

Carlisle's face creased with worry. "Your…trip…isn't going to set a newborn on the loose where…when you're from, is it?"

"Newborn?" Nessie repeated in confusion, and then put it together. He thought that because she said she had bitten someone, that she had made a vampire. She shook her head. "Oh! I can't turn anyone. Female hybrids aren't venomous, only males."

Carlisle shook his head. "I've never even heard of hybrids beyond shadowy legends, and you speak as if you've done a census."

Renesmee laughed, though there was an edge to it. She pondered what to say, still not fond of verbal communication, and then shook her head, recalling unpleasant, tense memories. "The reason you were measuring me, in the memories I showed you, was because from conception, I grew at an astonishing rate. After birth, it continued. There was a great fear that I would live five or six years and die of…" She shrugged, unsure of how to put it. "Well, I suppose, old age. There were some…issues with the Volturi…who consider me both useful and an abomination, depending on who you ask, and Alice found proof that I wasn't a threat in South America, a male hybrid named Nahuel, who is over a hundred and fifty." She shrugged. "He has several half-sisters, and like me, none of them are venomous."

Carlisle nodded, as he had no doubt that the Volturi would find a hybrid of interest, and that Alice would be able to find something like that if she set her mind to it. "And how old are you?"

Nessie made a face. That was a complicated question that engendered debates all the time. Most of them were ridiculous attempts on the side of her parents to keep her a child as long as possible, like 'You're only seven; you can't go to an R-rated movie.' "Well, if you ask me, I'm seventeen, because I'm just as developed, if not more so, than every seventeen year old you'll ever meet in every way that matters …" She sighed. "Chronologically, however, I'm seven years old and done physically changing."

Carlisle shook his head as he pulled in. "I think we should try to keep the time-traveling part a secret as long as possible." He admitted, although it pained him to suggest keeping a secret from his family. "We don't know what effect you being here will have on the future or what kind of effect foreknowledge might have on people. Alice's visions of the future alter so easily with the kinds of decisions made that we don't want you to talk yourself out of existence."

"Got it." Nessie said, considering things. It wouldn't be so hard, except for keeping her father out of her thoughts. She would just have to be very careful while in range of her father's gift. "Don't think about the future around Edward and keep my mouth shut otherwise." The nerves cropped up again as Carlisle pulled into the garage and opened the door. "Everyone?" He called, easily enough, as if company was common in the Cullen household. "I brought a guest!"

There was a moment of silence before the family appeared, one by one, first Esme, then Emmett followed shortly by Rosalie, then a shocked Alice and Jasper, and finally, a morose looking Edward.

"What a surprise, dear, I wish you'd called." Esme said, but she was smiling.

Carlisle chuckled. "It was for me too, Esme. This is Vanessa, the police chief found her unconscious by the road; she was attacked on her way to find us."

"Hello." Nessie said shyly, blushing bright red.

"_What_ is it?" Rosalie said, staring at her, and then looking to her sister, who tended to have all the answers. "Alice?"

"I…" Alice looked disturbed. "I can't see her. It's like she's not even there." She was unused to holes in her sight. She put a hand to her temple and winced.

Nessie shifted from one foot to the other. "I'm a hybrid." She explained. "I'm half-human and half-vampire. My mother carried me while she was still human, and my father changed her after I was…delivered."

"Is that even _possible_?" Emmett asked, moving closer to Rosalie, whose expression had gone dark.

"There are legends…" Alice said slowly. "In South America, but…"

"I only know of five of us, and all of them but me were fathered by a vampire who imagines himself a scientist." Nessie admitted, thinking of Nahuel and his sisters, and the way their father had manipulated them. She winced slightly. "There are vampires who think me an abomination…" She recalled running for her life despite herself, and saw Edward react with an almost sympathetic wince.

Carlisle put an arm around Nessie's shoulders. "She was separated from her parents, so we're just giving her a place to stay until she can find them again."

"Welcome, Vanessa." Esme said with a beautiful smile. "I'm Esme, and this is Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Edward."

"It's very nice to meet you." Nessie replied, yawning despite herself, and trying to hide it behind a hand. She hadn't slept properly in days _before_ she had been chased across the forest and fallen back in time. "I can't thank you enough for having me."

Rosalie, why don't you show Vanessa to one of the guest rooms?" Esme suggested, as much as she ever suggested anything. Esme asked and her children usually did.

Rosalie, stubborn until the end, made a face, but obeyed. "Come on then." She said, the exact opposite of welcoming.

It threw Nessie for a loop for a second; she was accustomed to Rosalie as she knew her, not Rosalie as strangers (and Jake) experienced her. She went along with little complaint to one of the guest rooms, thanking Rosalie again before the blonde returned to the undoubtedly continuing family meeting. Nessie just curled up on the brand-new bed and fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Nessie was woken from a very comforting dream of warm forest smells and the comfort of copper-colored fur against her face by Alice, bearing clothes and the announcement that Carlisle was enrolling her in the local high school, and that he had worked the whole thing out with Charlie and the principal. Nessie was never fond of school but she supposed it was better than just sitting around worrying all day.

As they approached Forks High however, a modicum of excitement passed over her, mixed with a sick feeling of nerves. She felt an aura of calm wash over her, and glanced up at Jasper with a grateful smile, ignoring his surprise that she had pinpointed where the feeling came from. So, she took a deep breath and stepped out of the car with everyone else, scanning the crowd in the parking lot. They were all staring at her, and she blushed despite herself, falling behind Emmett as much as possible, using him as a shield as much as she could. It was time for her first day in a new all-you-can't-eat buffet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks again for those who read, reviewed and favorited this story. I promise this is not the last chapter, although I feel like I should warn for teenage melodrama.**

* * *

It was not Nessie's first time as a new student. She had gone to so many primary schools before she had stopped growing that she was a pro at being the new girl even though she was - had been? - going through her first cycle of high school. This time was distinctly different, however. Her usual support system, however unusual, was compromised by when she was and completely missing a few key pieces. It also didn't help that her story of being a victim had been spread and morphed through the rumor mill. By lunch she had heard that she was everything from an amnesiac to a future Cullen adopted for Edward. That last one had caused a good amount of disgust and a rather humorous 'Ew' face, if Jasper could be believed.

She had been careful to bounce between family members for company and support, even if Rosalie kept leveling glares in her general direction every time she hid behind Emmett. Luckily for her, Emmett was amused - he was used to being the one without a gift and being chosen as a shield seemed to help his ego. As she was leaving an English class, however, she was cornered by a family member who was supposed to be a stranger to her.

"Hi...um...I'm Bella Swan." The mortal would be her mother said, looking somewhat abashed. "My dad's the police chief, Charlie...he wanted me to check in with you and see how you were doing." She shifted her weight from one side to the other. "So how are you doing?"

Nessie smiled slightly, unsure how to handle Bella as a mortal. There was a flash of irrational fear that she would somehow hurt her, holdover guilt from her birth as well as knowing without a doubt that Edward was eavesdropping in the hallway on more than just what she was going to say. "I'm...okay. Dealing as well as I can. Carlisle's trying to help me find my way home. I think the gossip's the hardest thing."

Bella nodded a little, remembering what it was like to be the new girl only a few brief months ago. "You mean you're not a gun moll for an organized crime ring?" She asked as she started to the door toward the cafeteria.

Nessie grinned, lost for a brief flash in a memory of blueberry muffins and warmth. "Hey, I might be an Alpha bitch, but I don't do crime." Even as she said it, though, she had a brief memory that might be considered grand theft motorcycle depending on who you asked and amended her statement. "Much."

Bella laughed, and it made Nessie's smile wider, and remember her mother laughing. They headed toward the cafeteria together, and for a moment, she was almost happy where she was; until she caught sight of Edward and the dark look he was casting in her general direction. The friendly camaraderie was broken as Edward came up and grabbed Nessie by the arm, pulling her in a way that no one would call gently.

"If you could excuse us Bella, Vanessa and I need to have a quick chat." Edward said, in a voice that was nowhere as kind or polite as his words.

Bella looked unsure, but Nessie forced a smile and waved Bella off before Edward propelled her back into the classroom. "Ow." She complained, pulling her arm out of his grip, bruises forming on her skin.

Edward ignored her pain, eyes dark on the strange half-breed creature. "Bella is not to be harmed, or I will kill you myself."

If there was one thing Nessie knew, it was how protective Edward was of his family. "I'm not going to try to hurt your mate." She said, thinking hard about the anger on his face.

Edward let out a growl that was more dangerous than most. "She's not my...I saw what you were thinking, how you think she'd look if she was turned. You will not..."

Nessie cloaked herself in anger. It was hard to guard her thoughts all the time, and she should have known a slip like that would happen sooner rather than later. "For your information, _Mr. Grabby_, I can't turn anyone, even if I wanted to. I'm not venomous." Her anger was flagging, too mixed with frustration and something else, and her last words came out pathetic compared to the beginning. "So...you know...go away."

A sudden need to get out herself, to get away, overtook her, and she shouldered her bag. I'm...going hunting." She said finally. It wasn't the hunt she needed so much as the run. She was hungry, but it was her head that needed cleared, not the animal population. She left the school as quietly as she could, despite her desire to stomp off like a seven-year-old in a tantrum. If she knew her father, and she thought she did, he would watch Bella tonight, so while it might be a little early...but surely that wouldn't cause any changes to the future? Not big ones anyway.

* * *

Nessie headed into the woods, into the mountains. She ran and jumped and swung until even her supernatural muscles ached. It wasn't like before, when she was being chased. This time the only thing chasing her was in her mind, and she couldn't escape it. She was near the highest border of the treaty lands when she smelled it.

Vampires, with the smell of human blood still lingering, and they were too close to the pack's lands for her comfort. A growl rose up in her throat despite herself. She hadn't crossed the invisible barrier of the reservation in this time out of respect. In her own time, no one would have thought it strange and it would have broken no treaty; not even Sam's pack would question her right as an imprintee. For other vampires to be this close, vampires who hunted people, it rankled. She was about to go after them, make them understand that this was _her_ territory, Cullen territory and Pack territory and not theirs, when a realization stopped her in shock. She knew the stories. She had grown up on them.

_James...Victoria...Laurent._

She could scare them off, maybe even kill them, but what would happen if she did? She stood there, not knowing how long, stone-still, running through everything that might happen, and worse everything that might _not_. A ripple effect that she didn't know if she could control. The scents faded and still, she didn't move. Day turned into night, and the thoughts were still buzzing around her brain like bees. She felt Carlisle come up to her, sometime long after the sun had set, he put a cautious hand on her shoulder, and something inside her snapped.

She turned towards him, her immortal grandfather, buried her head in his chest, and started sobbing. She could change it. She could make it better for everyone. It would cost her greatly, but it would be better for everyone else. She could do this. She couldn't be so selfish. Her happiness was not more important than the human lives of all the newborns Victoria would make. Her life was not more important than Irina's life.

"What's wrong, Vanessa?" Carliisle asked, voice soft. Jasper was behind him, but not one else. He had anticipated her being upset, apparently, and she was glad for it.

Nessie pulled back and looked at both of them, wiping her eyes. "Hey, Jazz, I'm from the future." She said, the playful tone not coming out right, but as his power helped ebb away her grief, her resolution hardened. She cleared her throat and looked at both of them. "You _have_ to listen to me." She said carefully, following the threads of her thoughts.

"Okay." Carlisle said, unsure what was happening.

Renesmee took a deep breath. Without Victoria going on her vengeance spree, there wouldn't be enough vampires to force Jacob to phase, meaning he wouldn't block Alice's vision, but making Edward come back would be impossible then. "_Don't_ let Edward run away. _Make_ him stay here." She pushed on Carlisle the importance of this. "He _has_ to stay. When I do this, things will change, and what brings him back probably won't happen. You can't let him leave."

"When you do what?" Carlisle asked. "What are you going to do? What do you mean, when you change things?"

Renesmee wiped her eyes. "I'm going to save a lot of lives." She said with a harsh swallow. "I'm going to make things better."

"You shouldn't try and..." Carlisle said, trying to stop her.

"Alice always says the future is subjective to change depending on the actions we take." Nessie cut him off. "I'm just taking action. Now _listen_."

Carlisle nodded slowly, and Nessie knew that was all the assent she was going to get.

"When Bella and Edward get married, you have two options..." Jasper reacted to_ that_, and Carlisle raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, I _know_." Nessie replied, with a little laugh. "Either he turns her right away and you leave Forks for breaking the treaty, or..." She cleared her throat. "Or when they come back from the honeymoon, you keep Rosalie away from Bella long enough to..." She paused, in for a penny, in for a pound. "Long enough for you to abort me."

Carlisle, who had been listening, thinking nothing else could shock him, stared at her like she had grown another head. Jasper had an odd sort of spasm and made a choking noise.

Nessie ignored their distress. "I don't know how you'll do it, the placenta is as dense as vampire tissue and I don't _want_ to know. Bella will fight you on it, but you_ have_ to. When I do this, the only reason the pack didn't attack you to destroy me will be gone."

"Vanessa..." Carlisle said, his face softening.

She looked between them. How could she keep her name a secret when she was telling them everything else? "Renesmee." She corrected. "Renesmee Carlie. Like Renee and Esme and Carlisle and Charlie." She grinned. "But everyone calls me Nessie."

That was almost all of her instructions, and her expression turned to a thin smile. "Make sure you introduce Garrett and Kate." She sighed a little. "Kate deserves a chance to keep all her sisters and find her mate, and Garrett is funny when he finds vegetarianism such a challenge." Maybe Laurent would join the Denalis and he and Irina could find happiness when Victoria had no reason to go on the warpath and come between them.

"I can't...you're asking us..." Carlisle said, struggling with the words.

Nessie beckoned Jasper forward, and took one of their hands in hers. Her power had enabled it so she no longer had to touch their cheeks, but she still required touch, in most cases anyway.

_Old news stories, future news stories for them, but as her memory, it has a flavor of age to it, knowledge that this is before her time, but one after another about the murders, missing people, the chaos in the city, and her knowledge that it's an army of newborns that caused it..._

_The Volturi, assembled in perfect lines, everyone from Aro to the wives. Caius, slapping Irina, interrogating her. The guilt that a young Nessie felt, knowing this was all her fault, they were here because of her...and then Irina's death and the way Tanya and Kate cried out._

Nessie dropped their hands. "I'm asking you to help me save them. I'm asking you to help me make things go the way they _should_ go."


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! Sorry this took so long to get out, I was having some issues with real life. All better now. I want to take the time to thank everyone who read, favorited and especially reviewed. It made me come back rather than abandoning this when I got distracted.

* * *

Carlisle Cullen was not a man who enjoyed secrecy. He did what he had to to keep himself, his family, and others alive, but secrecy did not come easily to him. He had never minded the fact that his son was a mind-reader, or his daughter a seer, because he had no secrets with his family.

This girl was nothing but secrets. When she had thrown herself at him, he didn't even think she realized that she had projected most of what had been bothering her straight into his mind. As she explained, as she revealed to him exactly who she was, he couldn't help but slot this new information into her mystery and slot her new conjectures of changing the future next to her images of what had happened in her past. She truly wanted to make the future better, even without her.

Could he do it? Could he follow her instructions? If Edward did marry the girl whom he was so drawn to, could he make his son turn her before they consummated their relationship? And if he didn't, could he truly abort a fetus who was apparently, conscious, aware, and going to turn into someone that he already felt a strange affection for? Could he live with himself if he did? Could he live with himself if he didn't and it led to the death of Irina, a person he considered family - or the carnage of the army of newborns she had shown him? He didn't know.

Surprisingly, Vanessa, Renesmee, seemed calmer once she had extracted agreement from them both, and was heading back to the house, docilely enough, one hand wrapped around Jasper's, swinging it as they moved back through the woods. The move was child-like, and he wondered if she did it because she had never had a chance to be a child. There was an adult understanding in her mind, even in the memories she had shown him of Irina's death. She had known the whys and the consequences in a way most adults didn't, even when she _looked_ like a child. It made his thoughts more worrying, but he had to stop thinking about it.

* * *

The next day was a Saturday, and Nessie planned to take advantage of it as much as she could. She wasn't about to spend the entire day shielding her thoughts from her father. It took too much out of her and if she slipped, the risk was too great. So, she dressed quickly in clothes that Alice and Rosalie had given her and left the house. As she was walking down the long driveway, a police car met her, coming up the drive. It stopped, and she found herself looking right at her human grandfather. "Oh, hey Chief Swan." She said, as pleasantly as she could.

"Hello, Miss Wolfe. Where are you off to today?" Charlie asked, stopping. He had come to see her, and he was a little glad he hadn't had to go all the way up to the Cullen house. There was something imposing about the long driveway and the large house. "I wanted to see how you were doing. Bella said you left school early yesterday."

Nessie had the good grace to blush. "I don't think I was as ready to be around so many people so soon." Suddenly struck by an idea, she tucked a bronze-coloured curl behind her ear. "I was going to see if I could get some fishing gear and find someplace to get out and relax. Do you know anywhere?" Fishing wasn't the hobby of choice for girls her age, either of them, but fishing trips with Charlie had become a relaxing time to bond, even after they had left Forks. It would be a good way to spend a day far away from Edward and his mind-reading. It also meant, whether he knew it or not, she could get some bonding time with her human grandfather.

Charlie was apparently up enough on the habits of teenage girls that he found this odd as well. "You fish?" He repeated, curious. "I haven't been able to get Bella to go fishing with me since she was seven."

Nessie couldn't exactly explain that she _was_ seven, so she shrugged instead. "My grandfather got me started, actually. It's peaceful. Helps me get my head on straight sometimes." It was only partly a lie. She did it for fun, and it usually didn't help center her head, but she thought it sounded better and less desperate than "Come on, let's go fishing, Grandpa!" Besides, even if she wanted to, she couldn't exactly say that anyway. "So, any good watering holes and places where I can buy some gear?"

Charlie Swan, for his part, considered this. If she did relax, it might help him get more out of her situation than he had in the first day, and from what Bella had told him, she had disappeared from school in a rush. Maybe he could help the poor girl, she had sworn she was eighteen, old enough to be on her own, but that didn't mean he liked it. It did make him feel slightly better that the Cullens had taken her in, as they had with their motley adopted family, but he felt a certain protectiveness for the girl he had found by the side of the road. "You can borrow some of my stuff." he said generously, without a hint of his ulterior motives. "I'll give you a tour of the best fishing spots."

* * *

That was how Renesmee Carlie Cullen found herself sitting on the Cullen side of the river with her maternal grandfather, fishing on the floating dock. It was comfortable, and she felt the closest to truly happy that she had been since she arrived, watching her line in the comfort of family. Fish was one of the few bits of human food she would bother to eat regularly, almost purely due to these trips, and they had some good trout and bass today. She knew it wouldn't last though, even if the morning had gone by without incident.

Charlie broke the silence. "So where's your fishing grandfather? why didn't you look for him?"

Nessie ignored the irony of that question. Instead, she flirted with the truth. "He doesn't remember me." She said sadly. "He thinks my mother is my age." Well, one of her ages, anyway.

Charlie felt a stab of sympathy. "Alzheimer's huh?" he asked, gruffly. "It's a horrible disease."

"Yeah, it is." Nessie agreed. "My dad's known Carlisle for a long time, so I thought even if he didn't know me, he might help me find them." She shrugged slightly. "It was the best idea I had at the time." They fell back into companionable silence for awhile, until despite herself, Nessie's head came up.

"What?" Charlie asked, looking at the suddenly alert girl, who was staring across the river.

"Nothing." Nessie fibbed, reminding herself that her senses were too good for Charlie to have picked anything up. At the same time, though, she knew she should get going. She should make her excuses, give Charlie the fish and start running. Strangely, though, she couldn't make her legs obey her. It was like she had been nailed down to the dock, and if she could do nothing else, she dropped her head. It was official, she had inherited her emotional masochism from her father. The fact that she came by it honestly didn't help. She took a few deep breaths and focused on the shimmering scales of the fish as the scents and sounds got closer.

_Don't look up, Don't look up, Don't look._ Nessie instructed herself firmly as the sounds and scents became closer. She felt Charlie shift beside her as he finally heard things too.

"Hey, Charlie!" The voice called across the river as the matching dock creaked beneath the weight of the wheelchair. "Didn't know you were coming out today. Who's your friend?" Billy Black asked.

"What, did you finally give up on trying to get Bella to come with you and adopted a stray?" _He_ asked, and Nessie felt a slight dart of pain, and then realized she had put her nails through her skin. She was not going to look at Jacob Black. She was going to stare at the water. Nice water. Calm water. Good fishies.

Charlie laughed, _the traitor._ "This is Vanessa, she got attacked a few days ago. I found her by the side of the road." He put a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look up. "She's staying with the Cullens until she can figure something else out and find her parents."

"Oh, hey, that sucks, especially being stuck at the Cullens." Jacob said, some of the teasing leaching out of his voice. It had gone to the sympathetic but not coddling tone that only he used, and despite herself Nessie looked up. When she did, he grinned. "Anybody you need me to beat up?" A moment later he added. "I'm Jacob, by the way."

Nessie felt rather like she had gotten punched in the stomach, and shook her head quickly. It was as much an answer to the question as it was an attempt to ignore the pain. She had known there wouldn't be any recognition. This wasn't _her_ Jacob. She had also known that there wouldn't be an earth-shaking, life-altering connection. He hadn't phased and couldn't yet imprint, and she was already imprinted. He probably couldn't imprint on her twice, even if he had phased. Still, to catch his eyes for even a second and see the complete lack of recognition _hurt_. "Call me Nessie." She called across, instead. 'Vanessa' was too much of a lie if he wasn't in on the joke. "All my friends do." Jacob grinned at her, but the small flash of joy she got out of making him grin like that, even when he barely knew her, was overshadowed by the hard, judging eyes of Billy. She could guess what he was thinking, and it made her stomach tangle. What if he thought the treaty had been broken?

"I should get going anyway." Nessie announced, pulling the borrowed line out of the water and brushing off her jeans, not bothering to roll the pant legs down, even if Rosalie would kill her. She gave Jacob and Billy her best smile. "After running off yesterday, Carlisle's keeping much closer tabs on me." She shrugged a little. "Can't go breaking any rules, when I'm a guest." Maybe that would assure Billy she had every plan of sticking to the treaty, even if it rankled.

Charlie looked up at her, surprised. "Well, all right, but at least come over for dinner. You helped catch all these fish, and Bella and I can't eat them all." He started to get up. "I'll give you a ride back."

"Wouldn't miss a fish dinner for the world." Nessie replied with a grin. "Don't worry about giving me a ride back though. I'll walk."

"No way, it's way too far." Charlie disagreed, beginning to pack up his things.

"Your friend just got here." Nessie argued easily. "There's no bad guy behind me, I'll be fine."

"I can take her." Jacob offered, despite the stern look his father gave him. "I have to run into town anyway." He nodded sideways to the woods surrounding them. "I'll meet you at the road?"

Nessie shifted her weight. "Really, I can walk." She started, but Jacob cut her off. He didn't even know her, and he still managed to do that. Irritating. He was always irritating, and yet, she loved him anyway.


End file.
